Sadly, it does not often work out like that. The more likely scenario is that someone raises an issue and an FBI SWAT team hits them early next morning after which they say the magic words "Patriot Act" and you find yourself in jail with no hope of escape or any sign of a trial nor even a charge.

Look at what happened to Iraq war whistleblower, Susan Lindauer, or think of all the doctors and nurses who no longer have jobs after speaking out.

Lindauer TL;DR: She was an official go-between for the US and Iraq just prior to the war. She saw how the US government was choosing war even though Iraq was fully complying with everything asked of them. She raised the issue through all the official channels she could and was duly arrested and narrowly missed being chemically lobotimised to keep her quiet.